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“FRR has a lot more elements in place compared to Haas. It is planning to use a Renault power unit, while the car will be built and run by a team put together by former Force India and HRT boss Colin Kolles at his base near Munich.”

“I have driven well many times, but there’s always been something going wrong in the races – like punctures from other people hitting me – and it’s just never come together really. It’s a shame. Again we had a good position [in Monaco] but got a puncture so it’s just bad luck.”

John Surtees: “I hate so many regulations I must say. When I come along and I watch a programme and they start bringing up fuel gauges onto the programme to show how much fuel this driver’s got and whether he might have to ease off or adapt it’s another thing.”

Mercedes’ Andy Cowell: “[Separating the compressor and turbine] was an idea that came out of the group of people that sat down and laid the engine out. It was a mixture of people from the engine side, chassis side, programme managers – the whole works group of people.

“[Denny Hulme] was sometimes surly and always superstitious – he refused even to sit in a race car on Friday 13th, for example, and even had that eccentric stipulation written into all his contracts – and he didn’t appear to care what people thought about him. But once you got to know him, you realised what a fantastic guy he was.”

Comment of the day

Nico Hulkenberg has been praised for his fine start to the year but @Craig-o says his team mate Sergio Perez deserves some credit too:

I’m genuinely impressed with the maturity he’s shown for most of the season so far. If it wasn’t for his needless contact in Monaco he could well have finished in the points too in every race he has started. […]

The fact that Hulkenberg hasn’t scored a podium let alone a win in his career is a travesty given his talent. I always thought that Perez would be good for a team like Force India but I never expected him to give Hulkenberg as much of a challenge as much as he has been doing, it’s another thing to keep up that sort of run all season long though.@Craig-o

Happy birthday!

On this day in F1

Ayrton Senna announced his arrival in Formula One with an unforgettable drive in the pouring rain at Monaco.

He started his sixth grand prix from 13th on the grid, but in dreadful conditions he was closing on leader Alain Prost when the race was abandoned before half-distance. Both were also being caught by Stefan Bellof’s Tyrrell.

Sadly we’ll never know how the race would have turned out. But we do know Senna’s Toleman had sustained suspension damage which could have put him out; Tyrrell were eventually disqualified from the season because of a ballast infringement; and had Prost finished second in a full points race, instead of first in a half-distance race, he would have been that year’s champion.

I’m getting really fed up with the ‘the sound isn’t so good someone should do something about it’ complaints. If you dislike it, then please propose a sustainable way to change it. We can’t go back to V8s, V10s or V12s because Mercedes, Renault and Honda will leave, so we need something different – please give me a good alternative or please stop complaining.

Coulthard’s comments of ‘the Monaco GP sales were down 20% you see? people don’t like the sound’ comment is particularly laughable. I can give you a whole washing list of what’s wrong with F1 and why people don’t go to the GPs anymore, where top of the list is the ridiculous amount of money one has to pay to see 6.5 hours of total F1 track time (probably 5 hours effectively).

And how about the WEC then? The amount of decibels the LMP1 cars produce is underwhelming (the Audis hardly make any noise), yet its popularity is increasing. I mean, what more evidence do you need that the noise simply isn’t the issue here?

If you dislike it, then please propose a sustainable way to change it.

Scrap the ridiculous fuel flow restriction rule, give them 125 kg of fuel and allow them to run up to 15.000 rpm’s. I’ll guarantee they’ll sound a whole lot better.

As for fuel savings? Scrap the ridiculously fuel guzzling jets flying overhead at the start of several GP’s. That alone will save more fuel than all F1 cars do now over the course of this season compared to last years.

I can give you a whole washing list of what’s wrong with F1 and why people don’t go to the GPs anymore, where top of the list is the ridiculous amount of money one has to pay to see 6.5 hours of total F1 track time (probably 5 hours effectively).

I agree, but the sound isn’t helping. To you and me the sound isn’t a concern. I know I would probably still watch if F1 becomes fully electric. I’d be tested, but I’d probably still watch it.
That’s not the case for the more average viewer though. I’ve heard plenty of people who used to like watching a race every now and then say they’re not interested because the cars don’t sound good anymore.
That and the looks and the one team/man winning constantly are the biggest complaints I hear from non fanatics.

The fuel flow rate is anything but ridiculous – if you understand why it’s there. It actually allows for far more consistent racing, as opposed to two thirds of a race being an economy run followed by a wasteful sprint to the finish (which the Mercs still managed in 2 of the races) – much like the previous turbo era. There was a good article about fuel flow on the racecar engineering website, I don’t have the link at had.

@andae23 This is unprofessional from Coulthard. As far as I know, no one (except F1F) has tried to do a serious fans’ survey that would reveal if and why their interest in F1 has decreased in 2014.

Even if Monaco indeed was “20 per cent down this year”, there could be umpteen reasons for it, such as Red Bull’s domination last year (many fans make the decision (not) to go to a race early). It’s also obvious that most fans simply cannot afford to buy F1 tickets (my bank calls me every time when I buy them to make sure that everything is alright as I never buy anything else that expensive). Marketing is another thing that should be improved and telling the world that “our engines sound terrible” won’t attract people either.

As for the drivers, if they don’t enjoy doing their job, it’s not nice but I’m not sure if it has ever been different, I think those who don’t win have always been complaining…

@andae23 I get what you are saying about suggesting alternatives rather than just complaining about the noise or lack thereof, but I wouldn’t expect DC to know the answer to that as it seems the teams don’t either, but rather if he feels that strongly that it is a key issue then he is really just promoting the cause for change. Even though it doesn’t bother me personally, it does seem to be an issue that I doubt will go away by reminding people of what LMP1 sounds like. LMP1 cars did not just last year and for many more, have screaming V8’s, 10’s, 12’s in them. LMP1 cars are not professed to be the pinnacle of cars.

I’m sure DC is aware of all the things wrong with F1, and perhaps he thinks enhancing the noise is a fairly easily achieved thing compared to other issues it has to, or at least should try to fix. Nobody complained about the screaming engines before, but there is certainly a faction that are complaing about the sound now, and F1 didn’t need that blow to it’s CV. I think it was far more unprofessional for BE to start the ball rolling as the first and most key person to remark negatively, and everyone has been taking a page from that book since. I think there will likely be change made if not during this season, then for next season.

If I find anything unprofessional it is that F1 knew 3 years ago the direction they were going and given that there would have been PUs on test benches way way before this season began, the sound should have come as no surprise and should have been dealt with before the public got to hear them in pre-season, if it is actually harming the ratings or turnout at the track. They could have done more to survey people on their reactions to the new F1. Or…they knew this was going to happen and have decided it is just the way it is and if it hurts by turning some off, that’s just the way it is, and if that is the case DC won’t be complaining much longer without sounding like a broken record and bitter.

I find it incredible that a man as wise as John Surtees can say in one sentence:

“I hate so many regulations I must say,” he admits. “When I come along and I watch a programme and they start bringing up fuel gauges onto the programme to show how much fuel this driver’s got and whether he might have to ease off or adapt it’s another thing”

…only to follow that up with:

“I raced at Monaco and I had the opportunity to win there a few times and I ran out of petrol on the last lap and I got this and that and all sorts of things…”

Does he not see that he just proved fuel management has always been a part of the sport?

@geemac Ok I’ll play devil’s advocate…do you not see that you just called the man wise, and then shot him down, in the same commentary?

I’ll stick with the wise theme. I would suggest that few know moreso that fuel management has always been part of racing than John Surtees. I suggest that if questioned further on this topic he might say never has it been such an overwhelming part of F1, nor have they until now literally put graphs on the screen for us to see as the races go along, re-enforcing how much of the game conservation, rather than all-out racing, is the new reality.

Sure it isn’t always an issue in reality, and often the cars this year are indeed finishing with enough fuel, but it is being rammed down our throats whether they actually did have to conserve or were able to in fact push, that fuel consumption seems a constant and therefore overwhelming concern. And many around here and within F1 have been bemoaning them being limited from pushing either by fuel restrictions or tires for several years now.

@robbie I mentioned that Surtees is wise because he is someone I respect tremendously.

I see your point, but this is an information age. People crave information in all walks of life, particularly sport and especially F1. In football we get interesting information like player’s heat maps and useless information like how far they have run during the game. In rugby you get information on tackles, offloads, linebreaks. In cricket you get strike rates and batting averages.

FOM give us graphics like fuel consumption because it is a piece of info which affects the outcome of the race, just like the gaps between the cars and the amount of time they spend in the pits. It adds to the viewing experience and gives us more of an insight into what is going on, it is isn’t a bad thing. They are just like team radio broadcasts, we could (and did for a long time) do without them, but they add to the experience. Fuel management has always been a part of the sport, yes there is a bigger focus on it now but that is because the sport is changing, the world is changing. F1 cars have a limited amount of fuel for the race and a maximum flow rate, these are fundamental to how the cars work and are necessary to keep the sport moving with the times and to keep manufacturers interested. That’s why we need that information and why it is now in the spotlight.

@geemac I never doubted that you respect Surtees, and I know you were just making a point. I do get what you are saying about the information age, but I’m not convinced many racing fans want changes in the racing to be about the race engineer telling the driver when and when not to push, such as in Monaco where while leading NR had been told repeatedly, and we were allowed to hear, he needed to start conserving more. Information is good, graphs are good, I’m just not sure we want fuel conservation and those particular graphs dominating the show. And it sounds to me like that was Surtees’ point. I think that the fact the current PUs are relative misers on fuel, and that there is a lot of energy being recovered, can be promoted while at the same time formulating F1 such that the drivers can push like we would/should expect for the pinnacle of racing. And that goes for tire conservation as well. Always a part of racing, but doesn’t mean it has to dominate to the point of limiting what the cars and drivers can do so much (of course this year better than last in that regard, but still not where the drivers would like).

Does he not see that he just proved fuel management has always been a part of the sport?

It was in the driver´s hands back then, whilst today drivers are doing whatever the team says on the fuel system. The problem isn´t about managment, neither with fuel nor with tyres. It is about the team doing all the thinking. Give that back to the driver, that means heavily cut down the telemetery by a strict rule-package on it, I´d say.

I wish Cristian Horner would just stop talking. His complaints that the sound isn’t exciting enough is all related to his desire to make alterations to the engine regulations in order to benefit Red Bull. It’s nepotism masquerading as fond memories.

It’s utterly stupid and ridiculous to even entertain the idea of reversing or altering the technical regualtions at this extremely late stage. In my opinion it was high time F1 did away with the gas guzzling high capacity motors (and yes I do have fond memories of them too) in favour of something more efficient. F1 sets itself out to be the pinnacle of motorsport both in terms of technology and performance so as such it falls to them to be the standard bearer to other categories to encourage the world of fossil fueled cars to clean up. Time to walk the walk as well as talk the talk.

The old cliched argument that making a few racing cars more efficient isn’t going to save the world from climate change just doesn’t wash. It’s a pathetic platitude to those who would rather bury their heads in the sand than face up to the reality of the challenges humanity faces in the coming decades.

All walks of life should act responsibly towards the subject of climate change. It is moronic to suggest that cars should be given carte blanche to be as wasteful is they like just because other industries cause more pollution.

There is a reason we don’t race chariots anymore, it’s called progress!!!